Sustainable Natural Resource
Management
Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities
for Science and Technology Education for
Sustainable Development
Karl Karmsen
UNESCO-UNU International Conference,
23-24 August 2006, Yokohama, Japan
Key words:
> Globalization
> Challenges & Opportunities
> Science & Technology
> Education
> Sustainable Development
Contents
1. Definition
2. The context
3. Sustainable NRM
4. Processes in soil-plant-atmosphere
systems
5. Globalization
1. Sustainability:
Definition
Sustainable development
=
development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs
Brundlandt Report, 1987
2. Sustainability:
The Context
Environment
Social &
Political
Issues
Limits to
Economic
Growth
Biodiversity
Environment
Chief Seattle's Speech
of 1854 (Version 1)
Dr. Henry A. Smith, Seattle
Sunday Star, Oct. 29, 1887)
(..) Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors
- the dreams of our old men, given them in
solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit;
and the visions of our sachems, and is written in
the hearts of our people. (..). Our dead never
forget this beautiful world that gave them being.
They still love its verdant valleys, its murmuring
rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered
vales and verdant lined lakes and bays, (..)
Environment
Concern about the environment in Europe
started about 20 years after WW-2, that is, the
post-war generation
 Radioactive fallout (atmospheric atomic bomb
explosions: USA & ex-USSR)
 Heavy metal contamination: Cadmium (itai-itai
disease) and Lead (Minamata Bay)
 Organic micro-pollutants, pesticides,
Phosphorus, Nitrogen, acid deposition, etc
 Emission of gases that cause climate change &
gases that break down the ozone layer
Environment
Biodiversity
 Eutrophication of surface water (N & P): fish
 Acid deposition (NH3, NOx, SOx): forests
 Use of biocides: disappearance of plant and
animal species (frogs, storks, birds of prey)
 Habitat destruction, e.g., deforestation:
disappearance of plant and animal species
 “Over-fishing” of seas and oceans:
disappearance of fish species
Limits to
Economic
Growth
• Industrialization
• Population growth
• Malnutrition
• Non-renewable resources
• Environment
Club of Rome, Limits to Growth, 1972
Social & Political
Issues
• Cold war
• Decolonization process
• Racial emancipation (USA)
• Emancipation of women
• Democratization: from the state level to the
workplace (e.g., universities, factories)
• Mass media & ICT: Television, Internet, Cell
Phones
• Globalization: Economy, Information
3. Sustainable
Management of
Natural Resources
Define the system in terms of its components
and metricized parameters:
• Soil: chemical, physical, biological parameters
• Ground- and surface water: chemical,
biological parameters
• Air: chemical parameters
• Above- and below-ground biodiversity &
ecosystems: biological parameters
>> Define functions and services !!
Functions:
Culture or production function
• Filter or buffer function
• Ecological functions
Services:
Provide clean water, refugium for biota,
food of good quality, recreation, etc
 Measure individual parameters, functions,
services, metrics; quantify them and compare
against set criteria.
 How do the individual parameters change
over time? Portfolio picture.
 How does the management system affect the
resource base? Renewable & non-renewable
resources.
 Is the management system economically
viable? Culturally and socially acceptable?
Policy environment? Institutions?
 Is the management system sustainable ?
4. Processes in
Soil-PlantAtmosphere
Systems
Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System
?
Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System
Processes in Soil as a Black Box
Processes in Soil Systems
Processes
in Soil
Occur in the
Rhizosphere
of Growing
Crops
Simplified Food Web in a Soil
Processes in Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Systems
The Soil-Plant-Atmosphere
System in the Landscape
Sustainability:
Dynamic quality: processes (x,t)
 Dynamic concept: relates to processes, not to
static parameters
 Processes are functions of time (t) and space
(x,y.z)
Time scale + Space scale are important
 Up-scaling& extrapolation: Agro-Ecological
Zoning, simulation modeling, [dynamic]
systems analysis
Time = t
Time = t + Δt
5. Globalization
Globalization (1)
Relates primarily to economic relations:
multinational companies move their production
units to countries with low wages and little or no
social or environmental legislation (or enforcement of any existing legislation).
In a political and cultural sense, globalization has
been perceived as spreading “western” values
and consolidating global power structures
The “anti-globalization” movement and NGO’s
may have contributed more to conservation of the
environment and biodiversity than the
globalization per se
Globalization (2)
Science and technology always have been
international cq global, but this has been facilitated
by improved travel facilities worldwide and the
upsurge in information and communication
technologies, facilitating increased access to
knowledge and technology
Some countries in SE and E Asia seem to have
benefited significantly of the opportunities
provided by economic globalization. More recently,
China and India seem to be solidly on the path of
economic development, their growth being clearly
linked to economic globalization.
Globalization (3)
The poorest countries do not seem to benefit much
from economic globalization (other than providing
cheap labour), their environment may be further
degraded by polluting industries, and only the
urban elite seems to benefit from the ICT and other
positives of globalization. Nevertheless, some
countries (e.g., Ghana) have realized sustained
economic growth over the past decade and it
remains to be seen whether this development
model can deal effectively with rural poverty and
underdevelopment
An Artist’s
View of
Processes
in Soil
THANK YOU
Soil Functions
The Soil-Plant-Atmosphere
System in the Landscape
Production
Function
Ecological
Functions
Filter
Function
REFERENCE STATE
Production
Function
Filter
Function
Ecological
Functions
INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE
Nutrient
Balance
Nutrient Balance
influx
accumulation
depletion
efflux
source
- sink
THANK
YOU